Thursday, March 21, 2013

The Game of Thrones

I was lucky enough to get into the premier of The Game of Thrones last night....and WOW! I wish I could tell you what happens in two weeks, but you'll have to wait. He he. Evil, I know. 

I kind of feel bad, nope, not really...



What I can tell you is what I learned as a writer from George R. R. Martin. 


  • He worked 10 + years in Hollywood before he wrote The Game of Thrones
  • He wrote tons of books, and was told they were all too long, too expensive to produce, and had too many big battle scenes
  • He cut constantly to make his work fit into what others wanted
  • Finally, after 10 years of doing this, he quit and wrote the way he wanted to write
  • The Game of Thrones was born
  • Instead of having to cut anything, producers approached him on how they could turn it into a series on HBO
  • George is not an over night success
  • George labored over words for over 10 years
  • George does not like the way death is portrayed in TV shows - no one seems to care about the person who died - the audience doesn't really feel the pain
  • He wants to create the reality of a death - the heart break - the sadness - not gloss over it
  • He writes strong, real, heart-breaking characters - the other stuff comes after


And...the NUMBER ONE thing I learned from George:

  • He does not believe in labels such as Fantasy, Dystopian, Sci-fi...


George said, "The only difference between these labels is the furniture. It's the characters that matter."




Oh - and the coolest part of the evening was, he sat right behind me. I hope some of his writing success rubbed off!!!
Thanks George, for not giving up, for writing what you wanted to write, and for sharing your amazing creativity with all of us. The world is more fun with you and your stories in it.



And, to the right is John Snow and Caitlin. So cool. I know I'm geeking out right now, but this was an amazing event!!

Another tidbit - The King Slayer is huge!! He towered over everyone there. 





Write what YOU want to write!!

Write~On...
Angie



3 comments:

  1. I totally agree. You can't write what others want. You can only write the story that's inside you.

    I heard an interesting interview of Philip Glass, whose music is absolutely mesmerizing. When he was a young composition student, he complained to his teacher that Bach had broken the rules of voice leading in a chorale. His teacher remarked that this was the essence of Bach's style. Bach broke the rules in all the right places.

    The parallels extend to other art forms, including writing. Know the rules of the craft. Then if you decide to break them, do so knowingly, and most of all, intuitively.

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  2. Thanks for sharing. That must have been an amazing experience. The season three premiere is tonight!!!! I'm kind of torn though. The season finale of The Walking Dead airs at the same time. GoT will probably win my attention though.

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    1. It was soooo cool. I was totally staring at the stars like a kid at disney. Loved it!! Which one did you watch?

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